When I updated the fuel comparison chart at Alternative Heating last week I was pleasantly surprised to note that the average price of Premium wood pellets for fuel had declined 8% to $240 per ton from $260 per ton. Wood pellets qualify for the Premium designation when they contain less than 1% ash.
Prices ranged from $210/ton for Maine's Choice Premium Pellets containing less than 1% ash, to $260/ton for Super Premium Cleanfire Pacific pellets with only .26% ash. That's 1/4 of 1 percent ash. The lower the ash content the more Btu's of heat output per pellet.
For instance, wood pellets that are right around 1% ash yield approximately 7,700 Btu per pound. At the other end of the spectrum, super premium pellet with only .26% ash yield almost 8,300 Btu per pound - an 8% increase.
The upshot of the recent price reduction is that wood pellets are now on a par with natural gas with each costing about $15 per one million Btu's. This is the cost per Btu before your furnace or pellet stove, as the case may be, gets it's hands on it.
The actual cost to heat your home depends on the efficiency of your heating plant. If you own a 15 year old gas furnace that is only 78% efficient your actual cost to heat is $19.50 per 1 million Btu's. However, if your home has one of the new high efficiency gas boilers or furnaces operating at 92% it costs only $16.30 per 1 million Btu. The same would hold true for pellet stove efficiency.
The recent moderation in the cost of pellets is welcome news amidst all the unpredictability in the fuel oil and corn markets
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